The Battle Creek Bombers and Madison Mallards were unable to complete six full innings of baseball at Warner Park as rain and lightning stopped play. Because the game was longer than five innings, the Mallards won the shortened game 4-3.

After Madison jumped out to leads in both games against Battle Creek in Michigan, it was the Bombers who led after the first half inning. John Malcom delivered an RBI single to add to his team lead in runs batted in and gave Battle Creek a 1-0 lead in the first off of Madison starter Brody Gibson.

The Mallards responded right back off of Bombers starting pitcher Walter Talcott. Northwoods League RBI leader Justice Bigbie continued his phenomenal season with a run-scoring single to bring home Ben Anderson. From there, it was a steady stream of offense for Madison. One run each in the second, third, and fourth innings continued to put pressure on the Bombers.

Battle Creek scored once in the fourth and again in the fifth off the bat of Cooper Trinkle. The future Indiana Hoosier hit a solo home run in the fourth inning and garnered another RBI with a single in the fifth. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Battle Creek reliever James Reilly worked a full count to E.J. Ranel with a runner on second base. Before the pitch could be thrown, though, lightning visibly struck in the area and play was halted. The game was official at that point in time, and the game was shortly stopped.

This marks the first time this season that Battle Creek will play a game that goes final before nine innings have been played. Tomorrow, John Malcom and Beaux Bonvillain will participate in the Major League Dreams Showcase in Madison. The Bombers schedule picks up on Wednesday for their final matchup with the Mallards.

The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Currently in its’ 26th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 200 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.